photo-litho



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MANUFACTURE 0F DAG-UERREOTYPE-CASES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,410, dated August 7, 1855.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HALvoR HALvoRsoN, of Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Daguerreotype Picture Cases or Boxes from Composition, of which Shellac Constitutes the Base; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof.

Of the said drawings Figure l, represents an inside view of a dagnerreotypecase constructed in accordance with my improvement; Fig. 2, is a transverse section of the same.

The composition of which the main body of this case is made and to which my invention is applicable is composed of gum shellac and woody fibers or other suitable fibrous material dyed to the color that may be requiredand ground with the shellac and between hot rollers so as to be converted into a mass, which when heated becomes plastic so that it can be pressed into a mold or between dies and made to take the form imparted to it by such dies.

In manufacturing cases for daguerreotype pictures, I usually apply to the face of one or to the opposite faces of both of the dies, a sheet of thick paper or of thin pasteboard and so that when the dies are forced together so as to form the half of a case or box, the said paper or pasteboard shall be made to adhere to and line the entire surface against which it is pressed by the die. In the figures above mentioned particularly in Fig. 2, this layer or sheet of paper (marked 1),) is shown as applied both to the inner and outer surfaces of, two halves or parts A, B, of a daguerreotype case. Within the cover or that part A, which receives the cushion, it is not carried up the sides of the space in which the cushion is inserted as it is in the part B (as seen at 6,) which is intended to receive the band by which the glass and picture are held in the frame. I have discovered that paper by simple pressure in the mold may be confined and made to adhere to this composition with a firmness which renders it impossible with any ordinary means to readily detach it from the part to which it is applied and if such paper be gilded and burnished previous to its application, the whole impression of the mold or such part of it on which the paper is placed may be thrown up so as to present a burnished gilded appearance such as cannot be produced without an immense deal of labor by the ordinary process of gilding and burnishing gold leaf. This process which I term the ordinary process consists in applying the gold leaf to the figure or form to be gilded and subsequently burnishing it with a burnishing tool.

Vhen a design is composed of much very line and ornamental work, the process of burnishing the ligure after its formation would not only be attended with too much labor when the articles were of little value, but would more or less destroy the beauty or sharpness of the impression of the die.

By my process of gilding sheets of paper or other equivalent material, and burnishing the same and then applying such paper so gilded and burnished and with its burnished side directly against the surface of the die and compressing said paper upon a plastic composition of the kind above stated not only can I produce a beautiful burnished gilt impression of the die, but such paper is made to combine with the composition in such manner as to add great strength to it and prevent it from being cracked or broken while in use. Such paper becomes so inseparably connected with the material or composition as to render it impossible for any ordinary atmospheric changes of temperature to detach it therefrom. When fixed to the inner sides of the daguerreotype case, it enables me to glue or attach either the cushion or band thereto, as they may be glued or cemented directly to the paper, whereas were they attempted to be glued to the fibrous shellac composition itself they would not adhere thereto with any degree of strength on account of its porous nature; a very little contraction or expansion of them produced by an ordinary cha-nge of temperature would cause them to be detached from the material.

A daguerreotype picture case or box formed of the shellac composition above set forth and strengthened by the application of paper to it in the manner above described becomes a very durable article in comparison to one made without the application of paper or its equivalent materia-l.

I am aware that boxes have had sheets of paper or pasteboard glued or cemented to their surfaces. I therefore do not claim the here application of paper by such means,

What I do claim is 1. The improvement inV the manufacture of picture cases or other articles of like character from a composition of shellac and fibrous material as above described, the same consisting in making said case or article of the said composition and one or more sheets of paper and pressing and combining the Whole together in a press or between dies as described so that the paper shall combine or connect itself directly with the composition without the aid of cement interposed between them, and serve to add great strength to the article so made.

2. And I claim the improvement of ornamenting the surfaces of the impression of the die with burnished gold in manner substantially as set forth, the same consisting in applying the gold to the surface of the sheet of paper or its equivalent, burnishing it While on said surface, and laying the Said burnished surface in contact With the surface/ of the die and pressing said paper and die so as to force the burnished gilding, paper and composition upon it, and produce vthe result as hereinbefore specified. I

3. I also claim the extension of the paper I-I. HALVORSON.

Vitnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr.

up the inner surfaces of the sides of the case the plastic composition together and into the 

